By putting the Parisians on a dry diet with only 15 small points scored, compared to 34 on average over the 27 matches of their season, the Montpellier residents won the battle they needed to join the Stade de France and Toulouse, very clear winner of Racing on Friday (71-17), next Saturday (9 p.m.).
The SA XV makes its return to CLe Sport with Alexandre Ruiz
SA XV manager Alexandre Ruiz is the guest on the last CLe Sport show of the season, a few days before the Charente club takes over. The opportunity to take a final look at the 2025-2026 financial year and look forward to the next one.
“Stade Français is the only team that gave us an offensive bonus”: arriving at the Vélodrome on Friday, Montpellier manager Joan Caudullo wasted no time in putting back on the table a bitter memory dated last October 25 and a scathing setback to Jean-Bouin 35-12.
So on Saturday, his men took meticulous care to make life impossible for the Pink Soldiers, who were struggling to find gaps in the Héraultais defense line.
Victory in illness
Few spaces left, only four penalties conceded by Montpellier, and constant intensity in defensive attitudes made it possible to limit the risks of a Parisian incursion into the MHR camp.
A fear ran through their spines during the only real offensive of the Pink Soldiers, reduced to total silence with zero points scored in the second act.
Left prop Enzo Forletta misplaced a ball on the way to the 67the and watched Carbonel kick the ball towards Joe Marchant who was running with long strides towards the goal. But winger Donovan Taofifenua returned faster than the TGV which will take the Montpellier hordes to Saint-Denis next week to sign a saving return.
The score was then 22-15, and a converted try would have allowed the Parisians to come back to the level less than 15 minutes from time, while the MHR was in the process of asphyxiating its rival.
Because the Hérault pack gained the upper hand over its counterpart at the start of the second act, after a balanced first period in a sector scrutinized by all fans of demolition companies.
Sanctioned five times between 43e and the 77eparticularly faced with the power of incoming pillars Enzo Forletta and Wilfrid Hounkpatin, the Parisian scrum cracked, having gotten into the habit of blowing up its opponents all season.
“We told them to continue, that a team was going to give up and it was them who gave up.â€
What makes us wonder if the absence of Georgian right pillar Giorgi Melikidze, injured during the play-off won against La Rochelle last week (45-5), did not weigh heavily in the balance.
The conquest of the Stade Français had already failed in another sector in the first period, the touchline, with no less than five balls lost or stolen by Florian Verhaeghe, a poison in the field.
Efficient and comfortable when destroying all the opposing balls, the Montpellier team succeeded in their move, the one they had prepared during the two weeks of preparation that their second place had given them at the end of the regular season.
“We won the arm wrestling. At the break, we told them to continue, that a team was going to give up and it was them who gave up,” appreciated Joan Caudullo on Saturday. “We were dominated because we didn’t have too many balls, we couldn’t get our game going, we fell into their style of play,” lamented Perry Freshwater, the Parisians’ forward coach.
Captain Lenni Nouchi and his gang will have to do it again in a week against Toulouse. “We are going to play against one of the best teams in the world. But we are going to face them and if they are not 100%, we will try to do something,” said Caudullo. “This season, we will have made two finals (the MHR won the Challenge Cup, Editor’s note) and for me and for a young club, it is something exceptional.”
Mola: “Don’t praise us too muchâ€
Ugo Mola did not want to get excited on Friday evening, after the crushing victory of his Stade Toulousain against Racing (71-17), which qualified him for his fourth Top 14 final in a row – he won the first three. “We put in a pretty incredible performance. Are we able to achieve one more? We are going to avoid drawing conclusions which would be unfortunate and would not serve anyone other than our opponent next week.” Against Montpellier, Toulouse could have to do without its third line Alexandre Roumat, who suffers from a sprained left ankle, and the Argentinian center Santiago Chocobares, released on concussion protocol.
